The world is closer than thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped, scientists have said. Continued global heating could trigger climate tipping points, leading to a cascade of further tipping points and feedback loops, they said. This would lock the world into a new and hellish “hothouse Earth” climate far worse than the 2-3C temperature rise the world is on track to reach. At 3-4C, “the economy and society will cease to function as we know it”, scientists said last week, but a hothouse Earth would be even more fiery. The scientists said then that the “impacts of a hothouse Earth pathway on human societies would likely be massive, sometimes abrupt, and undoubtedly disruptive”.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2026 15:08 UTC